ALBUQUERQUE – La Feliz Montana Ranch LLC’s Political Twist will walk into the starting gate in Saturday night’s Grade 1 Rainbow Derby as the 3-to-1 morning line favorite in search of his third lifetime graded stakes win.
The 440-yard dash, worth a purse of $755,955, will go as the ninth race of a strong 10-race card at Albuquerque Downs, which will also feature the Grade 1 Rainbow Oaks and the $100,000 Rainbow Invitational.
Trained by Daniel Amaya and slated to be ridden by Luis Martinez, Political Twist has won seven of nine career starts, including a pair of graded stakes wins as a 2-year-old. The son of Apollitical Jess won the Grade 2 West Texas Futurity last year at Sunland Park, and also won the Grade 1 Ruidoso Futurity.
With earnings topping $1.14 million, Political Twist came up a neck shy of winning last year’s All American Futurity, finishing second behind King of the Tide.
Political Twist drew the five post in the 10-horse field for the Rainbow Derby, which will be run under the lights at approximately 9:25 p.m.
Political Twist will be making only his second start as a 3-year-old in the Rainbow Derby. He ran the fastest time of the day when trials were held here on June 28, beating his rivals by a half-length in a time of :21.157 seconds.
Among the main rivals for Political Twist in the Rainbow Derby will be Jarvis V, trained by Raymond Valerio and the 7-to-2 second choice on the morning line. He was the second fastest qualifier for the finals, narrowly winning his trial heat in a time of 21.169 seconds.
Jarvis V finished second behind Gf Shes Sinful in the Ruidoso Derby last time out and will break from the inside post under Francisco Calderon.
Sunday’s $1 million Rainbow Derby will also feature a field of 10 starters, headed by Jason Olmstead-trained Ask Her To Fly, who comes into the 400-yard event as the fastest qualifier.
The daughter of Flying Cowboy 123 won her trial by nearly three lengths on June 27 in a time of 19.573 seconds. Prior to that, she was third in the Ruidoso Futurity.
Owned by A. Randall Geiselman and slated to be ridden by Ramiro Garcia, Ask Her To Fly will break from post five in the Rainbow Futurity which has a scheduled post time of 4:50 p.m.